Black BC: A History of the Black Experience at Boston College

Black BC Walking Tour is an interactive tour that allows online and mobile users to discover and explore black BC’s complex history on campus, in Boston, and in the nation. It mines anecdotal and informal resources as well as BC archives to commemorate the presence and contributions of black BC, and to document how this community participates in Boston’s black communities. The site is also a resource for BC students, faculty, staff, alums, and scholars who conduct research on race.

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Random Stories

19 March 1970: Students Occupy Gasson At 6:30am on 19 March 1970, black students occupy Gasson Hall in an effort to dramatize the problems of black students at Boston College. Their main concern was the possible dropping of financial aid of [some…

September 1933 – Casper Augustus Ferguson became Boston College’s first African-American graduate on a hot, overcast afternoon on Alumni Field in June 1937. […] Ferguson commuted to Chestnut Hill by streetcar in the morning, and after the…

23 October 1989 - AHANA House is renamed to Thea Bowman Center. During the dedication ceremony, Bowman calls on AHANA students to teach the BC community to include AHANA in the first stage of plans, not just the final stage, and challenges the white…

27 February 1995 - Flyers for a black professor’s lecture and a wall are defaced with racial slurs in Hardy and Vouté Hall. In a similar incident, an article written by a black graduate about her experiences at BC is covered with racial slurs and…

10 June 2020 – Facing outward toward Commonwealth Avenue, a crowd of about 100 protesters, including Boston College students and Jesuits, covered the lawn of St. Ignatius Church on Sunday afternoon. At the demonstration, organized by students from…